Introduction

This blog post is dedicated to my notes from the first R&D lesson about pre production documents. A pre production document is a way that the producers of a film or TV show will plan out the production of their film or TV show.

Treatment

A treatment is an entire summary of a film or TV show as a whole. It includes the whole narrative, themes and visual art included in the production and is used to pitch the idea to potential buyers.

Logline

A logline is a short summary of a production’s screenplay. It is usually around 30-40 words long – a few sentences.

it outlines:

• Basic plot points
• Simple character descriptions
• Continued storylines

Schedule

A schedule is a plan for producing a film or TV show that outlines the times, dates, locations and deadlines for a production to the production’s crew. It is a calendar of what is going to happen and when.

Mood Board

A mood board is a collection of images, videos or other necessary materials that are needed to help visualize a production. They can be useful for outlining the aesthetics of a certain character or location.

Target Audience Profile

A target audience profile is a document outlining the intended audience for a film or TV show. It includes information about the target audience’s demographics, as well as how the film or TV show would appeal to that audience.

Character Profile

A character profile is a bio for a character including all their necessary information. Their age, height, personality, backstory and other necessary information. It also may include a drawing of the character. In animation, a scale drawing of the character could be used as a standardized model for their design, so that different animators are consistent in their drawings of the same character.

Concept Art

Storyboards

Storyboards are a sequence of simple drawings that represent the planned shots in a film or TV show. These drawings may include basic directions or descriptions of what is happening in the shot.

Legal and Ethical

In pre production, the producers of a film or TV show will have to consider legal and ethical problems in the content of their production. This is so that the production is safe and law abiding.

Soundtrack Design Ideas

Soundtrack design ideas are the first ideas of what a piece of media might sound like. It is like a script dedicated just to the sound design.

Task

The task for the remainder of the session was to come up with some initial ideas relating to the FMP brief.